The themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry is universal, encompa

A. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally she deals – Subject Verb Agreement - Eliminated
B. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition, also occasionally it deals – Subject verb Agreement - Eliminated
C. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition and occasionally deals
D. are universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally dealing – Avoid ‘ing’ - Eliminated
E. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition, also occasionally are dealing


My thought here....
A, B - Subject Verb agreement and hence eliminated.

Left with C,D & E
D - Eliminated too many 'ings'. GMAT people don't like them.

Left with C & E
E - I find it too wordy and what points to the wrong answer is '......also occasionally are dealing...'

Hence my answer is "C"
What say everyone any changes to the process followed??

POE:
+ Is/Are --> Are: Themes ...are --> C,D,E left.
+ Parallelism with "encompassing.." & "dealing.." --> D left.
D: CORRECT.

A. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally deals

B. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition, also occasionally it deals

C. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition and occasionally deals

D. are universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally dealing

E. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition, also occasionally are dealing

The clear winner here is D

The subject of the sentence is "themes" which is plural so keeping that in mind lets analyse the options
A. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally she deals
WRONG:- SV agreement

B. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition, also occasionally it deals
WRONG:- SV agreement

C. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition and occasionally deals
WRONG:- A nasty comma splice, also called a run on. SV agreement (deals)

D. are universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally dealing
CORRECT:- perfect composition

E. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition, also occasionally are dealing[/quote]
WRONG:- A nasty comma splice, also called a run on. No Parallelism (encompass & dealing are not parallel)

The themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry is universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally she deals with racial issues.

Issues: Subject/Verb Agreement | Modifier | Parallelism

Analysis:
1. "is universal" is referring to the themes. Hence, the correct verb is "are" to match with the number of the subject (which is plural)
2. For the sentence, we need to use ", verb-ing" modifier to modify "themes are universal"
3. The verb following "while" should have parallel form to "encompassing". [..., encompassing... while (occasionally) dealing...]

I have highlighted the errors in options below:

A. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally she deals
- S/V issue (this alone should be enough for eliminating this option)
- Parallelism issue

B. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition, also occasionally it deals
- S/V issue (this alone should be enough for eliminating this option)
- Parallelism issue

C. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition and occasionally
deals
- Comma splice or sentence run on
- they... deals.. : S/V issue

D. are universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally dealing

E. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition, also occasionally are dealing
- Comma splice or sentence run on

VeritasKarishma generis AjiteshArun GMATNinjaTwo

Although I got this correct, I want to validate my understanding of coma+verb-ing modifier.




The themes
that Rita Dove explores in her poetry
are universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally dealing with racial issues.

The two coma+verb-ing modifiers encompassing and dealing connected parallel by while (though I have
seen more usage of AND to connect parallel lists) modify themes and not Rita Dove.

Intended meaning:

RD explores universal themes in her poetry by encompassing much of the human condition and occasionally dealing with racial issues.

It is OK for a verb-ing modifier to JUMP over earlier independent clause: Rita Dove explores in her poetry
to modify themes. Am I correct since coma+verb-ing must answer HOW / WHY to modify preceding subject of preceding clause?

"that Rita Dove ..." is a 'that' modifier which can be ignored.

The structure of the sentence is this:

The themes are universal, encompassing ... while occasionally dealing ...

If the C option was "are universal, they encompass much of the human condition and occasionally DEAL", would it be correct?
Also, have I used the correct form of "if-then" in the above sentence? :P

Bunuel VeritasKarishma MikeScarn GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo hazelnut generis

Hi himanshurajawat,

That would fix the subject-verb agreement problem, but we'd still end up with

The themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal
,
they encompass much of the human condition and occasionally deal with racial issues.

This option uses a comma to join two independent clauses. That leads to a comma splice (error).

AjiteshArun can you please explain why C and E are comma splice errors? “They’ can play the role of noun modifier modifying noun themes. That is a separate issue that such usage would slightly drift away the actual meaning but I want to understand the comma splice error in this.
Thanks
Your follower

Posted from my mobile device

Hi twister68,

A good way to check whether we're looking at an independent clause is to check whether that structure could stand alone as a sentence. Let's take a look at option C again:

The themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal, they encompass much of the human condition and occasionally deals with racial issues.

We'd be happy with both (1) and (2) below (ignore the subject-verb agreement error):
1. The themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal.
2. They encompass much of the human condition and occasionally deals with racial issues.

Some test takers assume that the second clause is not independent because the they in (2) refers to the themes that... in (1). To avoid making that mistake, we should keep in mind that we are looking at only structure here.

A comma splice occurs when a comma is used to join two independent clauses, and that is exactly what option C does (IC , IC).

AjiteshArun I completely agree that its an independent clause and that is not questionable. My point is that a noun modifier itself can also be an Independent clause. If “they” here is playing the role of noun modifier, then why are we categorizing this in comma splice. Or is it that noun modifier itself cannot be an IC

Posted from my mobile device

Hi twister68,

1. Your last point is correct. An independent clause is not a modifier. Instead, we have (in option C) a compound sentence (at least two independent clauses). In compound sentences, all clauses are equally important, and are joined by (normally) coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or...). Sometimes, we may use a semicolon to join two independent clauses, and (even more rarely) a comma may be used to join independent clauses. The last one, however, results in a comma splice, and comma splices are considered incorrect on the GMAT.

2. The they is not a modifier. A modifier (there are other things that modifiers can do) "changes" the thing that it modifies or provides more information about it (and some words can act as either pronouns or modifiers). The they however, does not modify the themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry. It just provides us a way to refer to the themes... without actually using the whole noun phrase again.

Option A: ‘the themes’ requires plural ‘are’ instead of singular ‘is’ in this sentence. Eliminate.

Option B: SVA error in this option as pointed out in option A. The clause "also it occasionally deals with " is separated only by a comma. This sentence is a run-on. Eliminate.

Option C: This is a run on sentence -two independent clauses that are connected by comma. "they + deals" is incorrect. Eliminate.

Option D: Best option. Subject and verb are in agreement.

Option E: Run-on sentence. The clause "also occasionally are dealing" does not have a subject. Eliminate.

Hope this helps!

A. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally she deals
(1) SV disagreement – “The themes….is…” should be “are”;

B. is universal, encompassing much of the human condition, also occasionally it deals
(1) SV disagreement – “The themes….is…” should be “are”; (2) pronoun error – “it” (singular) seems to refer to “themes” (plural)

C. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition and occasionally deals
(1) SV disagreement – what is “deals” referring to? Should likely be “they”; (2) comma splice – “The themes…are universal, they encompass much of the human condition…”;

D. are universal, encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally dealing
Best option

E. are universal, they encompass much of the human condition, also occasionally are dealing
(1) comma splice – “The themes…are universal, they encompass much of the human condition…”; (2) “are dealing” doesn’t have a subject; (3) Verb tense error – “are dealing” can’t be used for stating general facts

OE:
Agreement; Grammatical construction
The plural subject of the sentence, themes, requires the plural verb are
in place of is. Because the themes of Dove’s poetry encompass the
human condition and deal with racial issues, there is no need to make
this a compound sentence by introducing a new grammatical subject,
she, in a final clause. A single subject with two parallel verbs is the
clearest and most efficient form for this sentence.
A. The plural subject disagrees with the singular verb. The sentence
should retain the focus on the single subject themes rather than
introduce a new subject and clause at the end.
B. The plural subject disagrees with the singular verb. Because also
occasionally it deals with . . . introduces a new main clause, the
comma between condition and also is an insufficient connector
(creating a comma splice).
C. The comma between universal and they is an insufficient connector,
creating a comma splice; the singular verb deals does not agree with
the plural subject they.
D. Correct. The plural verb are agrees with the plural subject. The
sentence is effectively worded and grammatically correct.
E. The comma between universal and they creates a comma splice.
There is no subject for the verb are dealing.
The correct answer is D.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal because these themes encompass much of the human condition and simultaneously on occasion deal with racial issues.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Grammatical Construction + Parallelism

• Semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses; commas are used to link an independent clause with a dependent one; comma cannot be used to join two independent clauses.
• Any elements linked by a conjunction ("also" and "while" in this case) must be parallel.
• If a list contains only two elements, they must be joined with a conjunction.

A: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "themes" with the singular verb "is". Further, Option A alters the meaning of the sentence with the phrase "while occasionally she deals"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that Rita Dove occasionally deals with racial issues; the intended meaning is that the themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry occasionally deal with racial issues.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "themes" with the singular verb "is". Further, Option A alters the meaning of the sentence with the phrase "also occasionally it deals"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal because these themes encompass much of the human condition, and as a separate action Rita Dove's poetry occasionally deals with racial issues; the intended meaning is that the themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal because these themes encompass much of the human condition and because the themes simultaneously on occasion deal with racial issues.

C: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "themes" with the singular verb "deals". Further, Option C incorrectly uses a comma to join the independent clauses "The themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal" and "they encompass much of the human condition and occasionally deals with racial issues"; remember, semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses; commas are used to link an independent clause with a dependent one; comma cannot be used to join two independent clauses.

D: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the plural noun "themes" with the plural verb "are" and avoids the subject-verb disagreement seen in Option C, as it uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "dealing" in this sentence) rather than an active verb. Further, Option D correctly uses the phrase "while occasionally dealing", conveying the intended meaning - that the themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal because these themes encompass much of the human condition and because the themes simultaneously on occasion deal with racial issues. Additionally, Option D correctly uses a comma to join the independent clause "The themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal" to the dependent clause "encompassing much of the human condition while occasionally dealing". Moreover, Option D correctly uses conjunction ("while" in this case) to join two elements in a list "encompassing much of the human condition" and "occasionally dealing with racial issues". Besides, Option D correctly maintains parallelism between "encompassing much of the human condition" and "occasionally dealing with racial issues".

E: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "they encompass much of the human condition" and "are dealing with racial issues"; remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("also" in this case) must be parallel. Further, Option E incorrectly uses a comma to join the independent clauses "The themes that Rita Dove explores in her poetry are universal" and "they encompass much of the human condition"; remember, semicolons and the “comma + conjunction” construction are used to link two independent clauses; commas are used to link an independent clause with a dependent one; comma cannot be used to join two independent clauses. Additionally, Option E incorrectly uses the "comma + conjunction ("also" in this sentence)" to join two elements in a list; remember, if a list contains only two elements, they must be joined with a conjunction.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the use of punctuations on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~10 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team